
I'll be gone from tomorrow to the 27th for Christmas with family! Next chapter will be the 28th!
Happy holidays, everyone, and I hope you all have a great Christmas!
Thank you for reading Annabelle's Bastion! I know it has its flaws, but I really enjoy writing it and seeing people still read it!
The accursed’s room was a mess of broken crystals, shattered wood, and scattered rocks. Even the pillars didn’t go unscathed, the tops of them completely broken from the explosion and the subsequent rain.
Yet the mural remained relatively fine. Of course, it was on the far wall where the crystals and pillars didn’t reach, but it was still lucky.
Due to the accursed herself stepping back, her body remained relatively unharmed, too.
Thank god for that.
Anna would rather just leave if she had to go through a mess of blood and bones!
But their plan was a roaring success.
And the reward for it came in the three sigils laid gently on the ground in front of the accursed’s head.
“It wasn’t an apex sigil,” Aria said as she pulled something out of the accursed’s pocket. It looked like a locket.
Thank god.
Even having an apex sigil was supposed to be impossible for the corrupted. It would be a significant cause for concern if it really was one.
“It’s destroyed,” Aria said, turning the opened locket around for Anna to see. Inside was what looked like a yellowish… dust. “An artifact bound to its owner.”
“Like my sword.” Anna sighed. Of course, they wouldn’t get such a powerful ability so easily!
She probably grabbed it at some point after her corruption. Links to artifacts should theoretically get broken when the soul is corroded for the core. What a lucky find for her!
“The necklace might still be useful,” she said, holding it out for Anna.
“Something that can hold that kind of power…” Anna accepted the locket from Aria’s extended hand and immediately activated Appraisal.
“We will find a use for it later.”
Anna’s Appraisal told her precisely what she expected.
“It can help build a connection from the crystal heart to whatever element it’s supposed to control.”
“Powerful.”
“But useless without that heart.” Anna pulled the locket into her storage space, which consumed a decent chunk of mana.
“We can get one made when we get to Bastion.”
“Yeah… when.”
“It also means that the core isn’t granting them apex sigils,” Aria said, standing up with each sigil in her hand. “The corruption would be entirely unbeatable.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” It probably would be completely over for the universe if something like that happened. Anna grabbed the sigils from Aria’s hand. “Did you drink the potion?”
Elyanthra gave them a few.
“Yes—it is miraculous.”
“Good.”
Anna really needed to obtain a healing sigil.
She activated her Appraisal.
Earthquake, Earth Ring, and Pulse
“Earthquake and the Earth Ring ability she had. The unattuned is called Pulse,” Anna repeated the information her Appraisal gave her. “It’s meant to disrupt mana.”
“Oh?” Aria sounded interested.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t good for Anna, and Aria obviously couldn’t use it anymore. The accursed had a sigil it couldn’t use, too!
“It requires physical contact,” Anna said, shaking her head as she began storing them. “Plus, its effectiveness is heavily dependent on your opponent’s mana control. It’s practically worthless if they can control it well.”
“It would be incredibly strong in your hands,” Aria said.
True—if she broke through a barrier.
But also…
“I really, really don’t want to be a physical combatant.”
Fighting Jared and the Lizardman was enough physical fighting to last a lifetime. There was a reason she quit martial arts! Anna hated the feeling of punching and kicking! Perhaps that was part of the reason she was so interested in golemancy.
Aria nodded. “It doesn’t suit you.”
“Cause I’m short?”
Without hesitation, Aria nodded again and said, “Yes.”
“Hey!”
“Look,” Aria suddenly said, gesturing toward the fallen body. “A key.”
And there it was, rolling out of the robes of the accursed—the bell saving Aria. The fruit of their labor and the semifinal key needed to reach the end of the dungeon!
“Violet key,” Anna muttered as she gently leaned down to pick it up. “Nine down, one to go.”
“I don’t detect anything nearby, and we won’t experience anything near this corrupted.”
“In other words…” Anna trailed off.
“…We are nearly done.”
Anna released a breath. It felt like a heavy weight had just been taken off her shoulders, and she lost a few pounds.
“Finally,” she muttered.
They could be done the next day.
After a month of constant hunting, training, and killing, Anna was finally beginning to see the end. Of course, that was just the beginning.
But still.
“We can finish this in the next few days,” Aria said. They could probably have gone further, but her arm was injured, and her barrier was shattered.
“Yeah,” Anna said as she stored the key. “I’m assuming you don’t feel anything nearby.”
“Nothing.”
That was relieving and somewhat expected.
“Well, given that we just made a ton of noise, I think it’s fair to say there won’t be many encounters.”
No way they wouldn’t have been alerted by that explosion. Either they were behind more doors, or there weren’t any nearby.
“Yes.”
Aria walked up the door to peer through the hole into the hall beyond.
“I guess that’s it, then.” Anna bowed toward the fallen accursed before turning around. “Let’s return and let Elyanthra know how the day went.”
“Hold on,” Aria suddenly said. Her eyes were glued to the hole, which caused Anna’s heart to drop.
“What is it?”
“This isn’t real,” Aria quietly said, clearly surprised by what she saw.
Instead of replying, Aria whipped the door open, revealing… nothing.
Beyond that door was just dirt and rock and a small section of wall that had grey magic crawling along its edges like millions of tiny spiders.
“It’s… still building?” Anna muttered in awe. “We… we reached the end?”
She didn’t even believe her own words.
There was nothing left?
Aria speed-walked to the other door and did the same, pulling it open only to reveal a mound of dirt and rock.
The other two were the same.
Each door led to nothing.
“Yes,” Aria gravely said. She approached the mural to check for any hidden contraptions, but it just looked like an ordinary painting.
“H-how?” Anna mumbled.
That itself wasn’t a problem. Sure, it was a bit anticlimactic, but it wouldn’t have been exciting to clear rooms of weak accursed either. Rather, the opposite—tedious.
But where was the last key?
“We must have missed something,” Aria said.
“How?”
They literally scavenged every single room they came across. Every body was checked, every bed was rummaged through, and each wall was analyzed for strangeness.
Sure, they could have missed something… but it would have had to have been something so minute that it could take far longer than a day to figure out.
“I… I don’t know.” Even Aria recognized the absurdity—she was the one who made sure every nook and cranny was checked.
Multiple times.
Anna helped check, and they went around the room multiple times to see if there was anything of note. Alas, there was nothing.
“Maybe… maybe Anaval can help,” Anna said. It was probably a long shot, but Anavel had access to the soulscape and a deeper connection with ambient mana. She might feel something!
“Have her check tomorrow,” Aria said. She lightly sighed and shook her head. “I still want to check in with Elyanthra.”
And her arm needed to heal.
“Yeah… Yeah, I guess we can wait.”
If it really was lost…
Well, they would have to figure out a way to brute force it. Unfortunately, all those ways involved big explosions and a whole lot of noise. Fighting the priests wasn’t possible for them.
And that was assuming they even worked—according to Elyanthra, the door was extremely powerful.
“Let’s go—your ability is wearing off.”
As if to accentuate her point, Aria winced as her right arm moved. The healing potion was working, but that would take a bit.
“Okay.”
——
The moon was shining in the cloudless sky by the time Anna and Aria returned to the Library of the Lost.
By the time they reached underneath the gargantuan tree, the gate had already opened for them.
“That’s a relief,” Anna said. That meant Elyanthra was there.
It seemed obvious, considering that they couldn’t enter without her. But they were lucky she remembered to return by a certain time!
“How well did her venture go?” Aria asked.
That was also important! Elyanthra told them she was going to their capital to go after one of the waypoint stones.
Hopefully, it was good news.
“I hope it went well for her.”
“Nothing I have seen or felt comes close to her strength,” Aria said. “She was successful and will be successful going further.”
“Yeah…” Anna sighed. “But that just means we’re gonna be the ones holding everything back. Especially now.”
“We will find it tomorrow and continue as planned.”
“I really hope so.”
They entered the portal, emerging on the first floor of the Library a second later. The platform was ready for them, and they quickly ascended to the communion chamber.
And Elyanthra was there waiting for them with a large grin.
But it fell when she saw Aria.
“Are you alright?” she quickly asked.
“Yes.”
“We won,” Anna said. “We beat the accursed and got three sigils, a magic tool, and the ninth key from it.”
It had been eating at her, and she didn’t want to delay talking about it.
“Oh?” Her smile returned as she looked at them proudly. “Congratulations. I was sure you could do it—an impressive feet.”
That made Anna feel a little better.
“Yeah, it wasn’t that difficult after we shut down its Earth control.”
“May I ask how?”
“We can tell you later—we have a problem,” Aria interjected. Once Elyanthra looked at her, Aria continued, “That room was the end of the labyrinth, and we did not find the tenth key.”
“The end?”
“Each door led to rock, and we could see the core making more,” Anna added.
“Ah… yes, I see.”
“Do you know anything we could do?”
“Telling you to check thoroughly isn’t the right answer…” Elyanthra sighed and gestured for them to sit at the table.
They complied.
“The chances we missed something are slim,” Aria said after she sat.
Anna nodded along.
“I’m unsure what else I can tell you,” Elyanthra said. “There is no pattern to their placement—you will simply find them.”
As expected, though just as painful to hear.
In other words, their only hope was Anavel and her connection to ambient mana.
“What about you?” Aria asked. “Did you find a Waypoint Stone?”
Elyanthra’s spirit seemed to get reignited. “I will have one tomorrow, another the next day, and another the next.”
“Oh?”
That was more ridiculous than she thought!
“I had an issue with a sensory accursed, but that will be solved tomorrow.” She smirked. “I should return with the Waypoint Stone before the moon shines again.”
“Dang.”
She’d have all three before they even got one!
“Impressive, yes—but I owe it all to Anavel,” Elyanthra said. “The opportunity she has given me is worth more than I can ever repay.”
“Is there any corrupted that would be a threat to you?” Aria asked.
“Of course!” Elyanthra immediately replied. “There are at least a few in some corrupted zone.”
That sounded like humbleness. Elyanthra was the second most powerful person on the planet due to her connection to Zeruphirin.
“What about the priests?” Anna asked.
She hadn’t given up the small hope that she and Aria could kill them and just erase the core right then.
Elyanthra thought about it for a moment. “Their abilities and training involve fighting together, and they are powerful in their own regard.”
“Is that a yes?” Aria asked.
“I am the sage—I do not believe I would lose to anything.”
How reassuring.
But that didn’t help them.
“What about us?” Anna asked. “I mean, what if can separate them and pick them off one by one?”
“I’m unsure,” Elyanthra said. “I know their combat is for unison, but I don’t know their specific abilities. I’m afraid the odds are higher that this will be a stealth mission.”
“It’s possible that they aren’t strong at all,” Aria said.
“Not completely improbable,” Elyanthra said, but she did not believe her own words. “They are priests, not combatants. Their only purpose in pursuing power was to protect the temple.”
That was nonsense, and they all knew it.
Regardless, they would definitely not be as strong individually. But separating them was likely going to be next to impossible. Fighting them even more so.
“Okay!” Anna said. Talking about that was depressing—they should just wait until they can solve their key problem. “That aside, I have some amazing things to tell you about!”
Specifically, Aria did!
“Oh?”
“Aria, tell her!”
“Two of my abilities have… merged.”
“What?”
“Combined to make one.”
Elyanthra just stared, the idea being incomprehensible.
Anna had a new, fun addiction—seeing people’s shock at her and Aria’s magic!
“It’s true!” Anna excitedly said. “Her Shade Armor and Boost skills merged to make a new ability entirely—Demonification.
“Demonification,” Elyanthra muttered. “Are… are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Show me?”
“Not today,” Aria said.
Elyanthra’s eyes widened as she looked toward Aria’s arm. “R-right! My apologies, I’m sure you want to rest!”
Aria nodded.
“And I need to talk to Anavel again.”
“Smart—I am sure she’ll have the answer.”
That felt a little… odd.
Elyanthra seemed to be treating Anavel more and more like a supreme entity!
Cheaty labyrinth! Bad! It gets the spray bottle treatment!
Earthquake and the Earth Ring she had.
Would adding "ability" after Earth Ring make this parse better? It's a definitive proper noun so it feels odd, it implies they knew the name of the sigil before defeating her
, a house for a magic tool,
Housing.
Yeah, that did seem a little odd! Thanks!
Without hesitation, Aria nodded again and said, “Yes.”
“Hey!”
“Look,” Aria suddenly said, gesturing toward the fallen body. “A key.”
HEY LOOK A DISTRACTION!!
It's good to see Elyanthra getting a head start on her role as Anavel's High Priestess for when Sorana becomes Annabelle's Bastion.
Also yikes that is a lot of Firebolts. If Annabelle ever figures out how to mass produce pure mana batteries for her followers to supercharge their spells with, I pity anyone trying to claim her territory.
Heh, title drop!
I'm kind of addicted to getting Anna big numbers. I'm picturing one of those shady merchants:
"You need a Firebolt, I got that. Manaskin? Got that, too."